


once bitten, never shy

by fullsunlet



Series: Christmas Christmas Time is Here [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mentions of Clowns, haunted house date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21937948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullsunlet/pseuds/fullsunlet
Summary: Breaking up with Jaehyun happened naturally and Doyoung respected that. Getting back together with Jaehyun again four years later is no coincidence at all. (Though Doyoung doesn't mind it one bit).
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung
Series: Christmas Christmas Time is Here [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579702
Comments: 11
Kudos: 214





	once bitten, never shy

**Author's Note:**

> \- MERRY CHRISTMAS  
> \- it's my favourite holiday so i'll be posting a series of fics for 12 days (odd days for jaedo and even days for markhyuck - but they'll be in the same universe like day 1 and day 2 belong to the same setting, day 3 and day 4 to another one, and etc.

It’s almost Christmas. There are decorations _everywhere_ , a visually appealing reminder of the holiday season. From the cafe at the corner to the office building that towers in front of a cross-road, the streets are lit with fairy lights and adorned with wreaths. Candy-cane shaped ornaments hang from the trees, glittery silver strings holding them in place, and snowmen cutouts decorate the lamp posts. The festive spirit is truly in the air.

Doyoung appreciates it. He really appreciates all of it. There is nothing quite like good Christmas decorations on the streets that can lift Doyoung’s mood. Christmas is one of the holidays that he doesn’t hate (he hates Valentines’ Day for starters, and for very specific reasons too), that he actually likes. The atmosphere is always nice around Christmas, except for how cold it can get because of the cruel winter wind. Sometimes, it’s tolerable. At other times, the chill bites into his skin, making him feel it down to his bones. But Doyoung doesn’t mind it. That’s what his winter coat and scarf is for.

What he does mind is waiting out in the cold for half an hour for his friends to show up so that they can go to a haunted house together. A haunted house when Christmas is approaching. It’s the middle of December for heaven’s sake. Halloween was more than a month ago (yes, Halloween is another holiday that Doyoung can stand. In fact, Valentines’ Day might be the only one he truly hates, making him detest White Day by extension but not many people celebrate the latter so it’s highly irrelevant).

But the tickets have already been bought with Doyoung’s money and they’re sitting patiently in his coat pocket so there is no way that he’s going to let them go to waste. Still, it doesn’t mean that he’s all too happy about waiting for four idiots to show up on a cold December night. There’s only so much that Doyoung doesn’t mind.

Huffing, Doyoung takes his phone out of his jeans’ pocket to see if there are any notifications. None.

He’s halfway pulling off one of his gloves to send a message to the group when his screen lights up so he stops whatever he’s doing to hurriedly read the message, or the preview of it at least.

It begins with…

Brows furrowing, Doyoung tries ripping off his glove, struggling for a moment before he successfully pulls it off and proceeds to stuff it into his pocket. With shivering fingers, he manages to key in his passcode to open the message. He internally berates himself for not buying the more expensive touchscreen gloves with Johnny in the store last week when he feels his fingers starting to grow numb. Although he did consider hiding inside a mall or maybe a convenience store, he honestly didn’t expect that he had to wait _this long_. And the longer he waited, the more determined he was to brace the cold. Bad timing for his competitive streak to kick-in, especially when it’s nature he’s trying not to lose to.

_sorry but Mark and I can’t make it D: he caught a flu. hope you have fun with the other two anyways!_

It’s rare for Doyoung to receive such a well-mannered text from Donghyuck but that’s not what he cares about. What he cares about is the fact that the brat took thirty-one minutes to inform him that Mark is too sick to leave their shared apartment.

As he’s about to type a response telling Donghyuck that he won’t be getting a Christmas present and for Mark to get well soon, his phone vibrates. Raising a brow, he opens the newer message from Johnny first, choosing to leave Donghyuck on read. The brat deserves it. Not that he thinks Donghyuck really cares about his reply anyway.

_hey doyoung! sorry but_

His phone vibrates again, the notification for a new message from Donghyuck in their group chat appearing at the top of the screen - _don’t be angry at me pleaseeeeee D: i was taking care of markkkk_

Some of Doyoung’s anger dissipates but he still thinks that Donghyuck’s apology doesn’t warrant an immediate reply from him. He almost gives in, not wanting to be so petty with someone younger but he remembers the past thirty minutes out in the cold and stands firm with his initial feeling.

Doyoung goes back to the chat list, not even bothering with the rest of Johnny’s message and taps into his conversation with Taeil. It’s only a matter of time before he receives a message from the oldest of the group. A new message doesn’t appear in the chatroom. A new message does appear in their group chat though. The moment he sees the word _sorry_ again, he presses the home button to calm himself down so that he wouldn’t throw his precious phone onto the ground.

Inhaling deeply, Doyoung doesn’t care that his lungs ironically burn from the cold. He doesn’t care about the cold. Not anymore. It doesn’t hurt as much as four of his friends ditching him at the very last minute. Ditching him way past their appointed meeting time actually.

Eyes closed, Doyoung closes his eyes and presses his palms against his eyelids until he starts seeing white dots, then he lets his hands fall to his side as he shifts to a squatting position, arms hugging his knees. He knows that he looks pathetic. A grown man, with his knees pulled to his chest right in the middle of the street. He feels pathetic. Watching happy families, loving couples walking hand-in-hand, and groups of teenagers and young adults alike makes his heart ache. And he feels stupid even, when he looks up to the sky and prays for a miracle to the falling snowflakes.

“Doyoung?” a voice calls from somewhere; Doyoung can’t tell where it came from.

It sounded so near, yet it feels so far.

Shaking his head, Doyoung thinks he might be hallucinating and closes his eyes to continue making wishes upon snowflakes instead. Wishes that someone will come and sweep him off his feet (not literally) and save him from the miserable cold and hopefully go to the haunted house with him (after paying Doyoung for one of the tickets). Doyoung’s no damsel in distress but a knight would look pretty good to him right now.

“Doyoung?”

There’s the voice again. Even with his eyes shut, he can hear his name being called.

“Kim Dongyoung.” This time, there’s a tap on his shoulder.

Frowning, Doyoung opens his eyes and looks over his shoulder. He almost falls over when he recognises the person standing behind him.

The guy is no knight in shining armour. More like a guy in a brown peacoat. He doesn’t work as Doyoung’s knight though.

Doyoung pushes the hand away roughly and immediately stands up, wobbling slightly because his legs actually started to cramp as he dusts the front of his pants. Lifting a finger, he points at the other person accusatively. “Why are you here?” he demands, biting his lower lip when a gush of cold wind brushes past his hand and he belated realises that he forgot to put his glove back on.

The guy, or more like The Ghost from his Past, smiles back at him widely, his eyes turning into crescents and dimples adorning the side of his cheeks. “Doyoung,” he greets cheerily like the cold doesn’t bother him. He looks at Doyoung’s pointed finger and awkwardly pushes it down. “It’s been a while.”

At once, Doyoung pulls his hand back, stuffing it into his pocket straight away, more to protect himself from the cold than out of disgust by the other’s touch. “Jaehyun.” The name tastes vile on Doyoung’s tongue and he spits it out like it’s acid.

The smile falls from his face and for a moment, Doyoung panics, wonders if he went overboard with his tone. Then, in a serious tone, Jaehyun says, “I go by Jeffery now, Doyoung.”

And Doyoung wants nothing more than to spew venom at the other. Doyoung closes his eyes as he presses his lips together in a tight line to prevent himself from saying anything rude. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. He remembers to scold himself for panicking over the thought of offending Jaehyun though. “Okay, Jeffery.”

“I’m only kidding, Doyoung,” Jaehyun replies with a hearty laugh that makes Doyoung want to walk away this very instant, leave the whole area because Jaehyun’s in it. But he’s already paid for his ticket and there’s no way he’s going to waste it or the four others (though it isn’t like he can use them) just because Jaehyun is decidedly being an ass to him.

“Can you stop ending every sentence with my name?” Doyoung doesn’t try to hide his resentment. “It’s annoying.”

Shrugging, Jaehyun nods easily, giving in with an amused look. “Okay, sure thing,” a smirk, then, “Doyoung.”

“Fuck you.”

“If you’re up for it?” Jaehyun raises a brow _in interest_. He almost doesn’t back away in time when Doyoung swings a fist at his shoulder. Doyoung would never land a hard punch though, he’s too peaceful for such violence. But Jaehyun’s not in the mood to be hit either. “You look good in pink,” Jaehyun compliments, just to stray away from the previous topic, not wanting to anger Doyoung even further, dimples forming at the sides of his lips again.

So maybe he isn’t that much of an ass after all.

“It’s _magenta_ ,” Doyoung corrects out of spite because _he’s_ the ass and he wants to be one to Jaehyun.

“You look good either ways,” Jaehyun simply says, dimples growing deeper as his smile widens, the perpetual glint in his eyes shining even brighter under the moonlight.

Jaehyun could have been Doyoung’s knight willing to pay for at least one of the haunted house tickets and accompany him. More importantly, this part would have been romantic, so, so romantic if Jaehyun isn’t Doyoung’s ex.

*

“This is kind of like Universals,” Jaehyun points out as they walk by yet another haunted house. This time, Jaehyun slows down, hoping that Doyoung might be interested in entering the Witches’ Liar since Doyoung has been refusing to enter any of them. “You’re wasting your ticket,” Jaehyun tells Doyoung after watching him stare pensively at the haunted house and then rejecting it.

“You already wasted three of my other tickets,” Dongyoung bites back. At the back of his mind, he knows that it won’t be the last time he’s mentioning this.

Indeed, while they were still at the entrance, Jaehyun kindly offered up the other three tickets Doyoung had to strangers who weren’t fortunate enough to buy them. It happened so quickly that Doyoung couldn’t even process what was going on from the moment Jaehyun took the three tickets from his hand. Before Doyoung could figure out what Jaehyun was about to do, the tickets were on their way to leaving Jaehyun’s hand. All Doyoung could do was watch helplessly as Jaehyun handed a ticket to teenage boy (whose family forgot to buy one more ticket) and the other two to a couple who wanted to celebrate their anniversary (in a haunted house? But sure).

“This one,” Jaehyun says suddenly, grabbing Doyoung’s elbow and dragging him in line to one of the haunted houses.

Again, Doyoung doesn’t process what Jaehyun’s plan is quickly enough and he’s suddenly grateful that Donghyuck isn’t here to make fun of him about it, stuck taking care of his sick boyfriend instead (though Donghyuck would argue that he wasn’t _stuck_ per se). “Huh?” is all he manages before the line moves and more people join behind.

Doyoung looks around, trying to find out what the haunted house’s theme is. He freezes on the spot, forgetting how to breathe when he sees a colourful afro hanging on one of the lanterns hanging outside to light the place. His suspicion is confirmed when he spots a red cushion nose next and he wants to faint.

His hand moves faster than his brain does and he’s grabbing onto Jaehyun’s arm before he realises what he’s doing. “Jaehyun,” a whine slips out unintentionally but Doyoung can’t really be bothered to feel affronted at himself, not when his life is in imminent danger. “Not a clown house, please.”

Unfortunately for Doyoung, they’re almost halfway to the entrance. His feet had subconsciously started moving whenever the line moved and Jaehyun probably didn’t sense his discomfort to get them both to leave the line. There’s also a whole lot of people lining up behind them and not enough space for them to get out of the line without inconveniencing the other guests.

Eyes wide, Jaehyun suddenly looks like Doyoung just revealed to him that aliens are real or something as strange and otherworldly as that, when all Doyoung did was tell, _beg_ him not to bring him into this haunted house. “I didn’t know you were that afraid of clowns?” He sounds sad saying it and a crestfallen expression appears on his face, as if he’s really feeling guilty about not knowing Doyoung’s fear.

Smiling wryly, Doyoung feels his heart twist at the sincerity in Jaehyun’s eyes. “I’m not _that_ afraid of them. I just don’t like them. You don’t need to be so apologetic.” He waves a hand, trying to appear nonchalant when all he really wants to ask is, _why do you look so bothered that you didn’t know?_. Doyoung doesnt ask the questions but he does add, “I didn’t expect you to know anyway.”

Jaehyun looks even sadder, if that’s possible. He looks like a puppy that just got abandoned. In the rain. On a dark and stormy night.

Looking at Jaehyun, Doyoung tries to think of something that would wipe the hurt off his face. Anything that would make him stop worrying.

Thankfully for Doyoung, Jaehyun solves the problem on his own, eyes lighting up all of a sudden and a small small sneaking onto his lips. “Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing to be scared about.”

A dry laugh escapes Doyoung’s lips. “I’m not afraid.” He’s about to cross his arms in front of his chest when Jaehyun grabs one of his hands, making his breath hitch.

Leaning in, voice low, Jaehyun says, “Don’t worry. I’m here.”

Right there and then, Doyoung’s brain short-circuits. Inconvenient timing, if you ask Doyoung. As soon as he regains his senses, he pulls his hand away, cradling it to his chest. “Okay,” he squeaks. He clears his throat and stuffs both his hands into his pockets. “I mean, we don’t have to hold hands.”

Jaehyun doesn’t argue back, launching into a story about how he overheard a couple quarreling and eventually breaking up when Doyoung was too distracted by ice-cream carts all around the place.

When they finally reach the entrance of the haunted house, Doyoung inhales deeply to prepare himself. He listens to the staff’s instructions attentively, hanging on to every single word if only for his sanity, and so that he can concentrate on something other than the fact that he’s about to enter a clown-themed haunted house.

“...and if you’re afraid, holding hands is always recommended!”

Without thinking, Doyoung immediately takes Jaehyun’s hand into his own. When Jaehyun turns to him, bewildered, Doyoung glares back. “What?”

Not saying a word, Jaehyun looks down at their interlocked hands.

“Instructions,” Doyoung hisses and Jaehyun doesn’t even want to correct him, nodding with a smug look on his face.

“Don’t squeeze my hand too tightly.” The teasing tone doesn’t sit well with Doyoung but he doesn’t come up with a response quick enough before they are told to enter the haunted house.

*

Doyoung doesn’t know how much time has passed since they started the route. All he knows is that Jaehyun _was_ scared, kind of - by the way his breathing slowed and grew shaky upon stepping foot into the house and how he stuck closer to Doyoung’s side - and that he wasn’t any longer the moment Doyoung let out a frightened scream.

Doyoung doesn’t know how many rooms they’ve passed or how many freaking clowns have appeared in his face, laughing at him but he clings to Jaehyun like a lifeline, hands shivering even when wrapped around Jaehyun’s (toned) biceps, muttering _please, please, please, please_ and actually sobs into the crook of Jaehyun’s neck, stopping for a moment to calm himself down.

But then Jaehyun says a single word that makes something in Doyoung snap.

“Cute.”

What in the world.

Lifting his face, Doyoung stares at Jaehyun, speechless, but the words are coming to him and soon Jaehyun is going to regret calling him _cute_. He pushes Jaehyun away so that they aren’t touching anymore but he can’t push the infuriating smirk off his face.

“I don’t care for clowns or you,” Doyoung begins what he believes is going to be a very long rant. “Witches aren’t scary at all.” The side of Jaehyun’s lips twitch, maybe because it’s a clown house and there are _absolutely no_ witches here. And Doyoung wants to punch him. In the face. It seems that he has to be violent sometimes. But he doesn’t, in favour of continuing his monologue. “This,” he says, voice louder than before, as he points to the ground of the haunted house. “This is _nothing_ ,” he hisses the word with so much conviction that Jaehyun almost believes him. Almost. “You know what? This is actually so un-scary that it’s funny. So funny. And fun,” he hurriedly adds as if it makes a big difference. “Hilarious!” He lets out a laugh, making Jaehyun take a step back in shock. That’s one point to Doyoung. “The witches here can’t even fly. Where are their broomsticks?”

“What witches?” Jaehyun asks, incredulous and Doyoung thinks that’s another point to himself.

The next group has caught up to them while Doyoung was in mid-rant. Though they stopped when they realised what was happening, that Doyoung is in the middle of lecturing Jaehyun about witches of all things. In the back of Doyoung’s mind, he wonders why a scare actor hasn’t appeared yet. He remembers a clown jumping out when he entered the room with Jaehyun which was what prompted his whole soliloquy in the first place. Perhaps the scare actor found it awkward to interrupt Doyoung like the next group. They don’t look annoyed and there’s enough space for them to walk past the pair yet they also seem unwilling. They’re probably just being nosy.

Frankly, Doyoung doesn’t care.

“Stop laughing at me,” Doyoung continues even though nobody is laughing and he’s the only one in the room who laughed (besides the clowns). The side of Jaehyun’s lips twitches again though. “I’m not even scared. Who’s scared of something like this? Who can be scared of this? This house isn’t even scary. Clowns mean nothing. So save the rest of your laughter, Jung Jaehyun. Jeffery Jung or whatever you like calling yourself these days.” There’s mirth in Jaehyun’s eyes like he’s already laughing, but in fact, he’s just trying to keep his lips a straight line and failing quite miserably. His eyes are definitely smiling though, more than his mouth shows. What is he? The Mona Lisa? (Doyoung would only admit at gunpoint that Jaehyun’s face belonged to a museum, maybe not the Louvre, but a museum, definitely.) “I’m not scared.” Jaehyun presses his lips together even tighter than before and that’s the last straw for Doyoung. “Why are you laughing?” he snaps even though Jaehyun isn’t actually laughing.

Jaehyun doesn’t hold back this time and laughs. Loudly. In Doyoung’s face.

“I just find it really _adorable_ that throughout your whole speech, you were holding my hand.” Looking down at their hands, still connected, Jaehyun lets out a fake noise of surprise. “ _Are_ holding my hand.”

Doyoung gasps, offended, then looks down at their intertwined _fingers_ and lets go immediately like he was burnt. He spares Jaehyun one last glare before turning away and finally, finally moving forward, not waiting for Jaehyun to keep up with him. There’s only the exit in sight for Doyoung now. Freedom from this damn clown house. Freedom from Jaehyun, a clown himself.

The neon emergency exits look tempting but Doyoung is not a quitter.

A clown jumps out suddenly but Doyoung’s too angry to even be scared. He’s more surprised than anything as he stares at the clown’s face, then it morphs into pride as he spins around and points his index finger at Jaehyun. “I am not scared.” Then, out of spite, Doyoung sticks his tongue out. Jaehyun looks thoroughly amused and Doyoung belatedly realises how childish his action is and regrets it about ten seconds too late.

Walking up next to Doyoung, Jaehyun smiles as he puts both his hands in his jeans pockets. “Great. Let’s continue then.” He motions for Doyoung to lead the way.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Doyoung pushes his chest out and walks in front.

Doyoung screams at the next turn. (And grabs hold of Jaehyun’s hand again).

*

People do eat ice-cream during winter.

Once Doyoung stepped out of the haunted house, he flung Jaehyun’s hand away and made a beeline for the ice-cream cart, his fear all forgotten when he sees that there’s churros on the menu too. His eyes sparkle and he smiles at the vendor before ordering an ice-cream and churros set. The kind man tending to the cart smiles at him and keys his order into the register.

“Just one?” he asks when he sees Jaehyun coming up next to Doyoung.

Frowning, Doyoung turns to scrunch his nose at Jaehyun before his pretty smile is back on when he faces the vendor again. “Just one,” he says, raising a finger to emphasise his point.

“I missed this,” Jaehyun laughs, then freezes when he realises what he just said.

Doyoung pretends not to hear it and smiles at the vendor one last time before accepting the ice-cream cup and churros and then quickly walking off, hoping Jaehyun wouldn’t follow him for a while to leave some distance between them, to leave some space between the words that just left Jaehyun’s mouth. But of course Jaehyun quickly catches up with him.

Just like how he always did.

“Aren’t you going to share that with me?” Jaehyun asks.

Even though Jaehyun isn’t even making any attempts at stealing a bite, Doyoung moves his churros and ice-cream cup away, turning a little to shield them protectively. “No? Get your own?” He frowns, then looks over his shoulder to face Jaehyun. “Why didn’t you get any?”

All Jaehyun does is smile in response and Doyoung wants his dimples to disappear.

It’s when Doyoung takes a big bite from his churros stick and shoves a big scoop of ice-cream into his mouth does Jaehyun finally give a worded answer.

“The vendor didn’t seem like he wanted to serve me after you so cutely told him you only wanted one.”

Doyoung all but chokes on his food. 

Crinkling his eyes as he chuckles, Jaehyun suddenly takes the spoon from Doyoung’s hand and steals a bit of the ice-cream. His smile widens when he sees Doyoung blinking back at him. Taking advantage of the moment while Doyoung is still confused, Jaehyun grabs his hand and pulls him towards the haunted house on a yacht.

When Doyoung finally snaps out of his stupor, he quickly shakes his head though Jaehyun can’t see him. “No way, Jung Jaehyun. I’m going to puke in there. I’ll get sea-sick.”

Amused, Jaehyun turns around slightly, but he doesn’t stop walking. “It isn’t on the water, though?”

At that, Doyoung promptly shuts his mouth.

With a grin, Jaehyun pulls him in line.

They don’t talk much, Jaehyun pointing out a squirrel running up a tree bark and that’s it. But it isn’t awkward. Nor is it uncomfortable and Doyoung finds himself enjoying the silence quite a bit.

Only when they’re at the entrance does Jaehyun say, “You can hold my hand again.”

“I don’t need to,” Doyoung snaps back the same time Jaehyun shouts, out of the blue, making Doyoung scream. When he realises what Jaehyun did, he points a finger at him. “Don’t do that.” And he holds Jaehyun’s hand anyway.

*

It’s almost three in the morning by the time they decide to leave. Considering that they started around eleven, it is pretty late. (Doyoung tries not to dwell on the fact that he spent four whole hours with his ex. His very attractive ex.) The houses are still packed with people, though, the lines seemingly never-ending and Doyoung judges them in his mind, then aloud when Jaehyun voices the same sentiments. And they share a laugh. It feels nice.

“This was fun,” Jaehyun says as they’re walking out.

Begrudgingly, Doyoung admits, “Yeah, it was.” He struggles to stop himself from saying anything else and fails. “I guess. It was kind of fun.”

Jaehyun laughs, because Doyoung simple doesn’t have the ability to give one-word replies, especially when it’s something he doesn’t want to agree with. “I hope we can do this again.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Then the words click in Doyoung’s mind. “Wait. What?”

Jaehyun has a sad smile on his face when Doyoung turns to look at him and the latter tries to push away the guilt slowly building in him. “I don’t know why you’re so angry at me, Doyoung. I remember we parted on good terms but then we started arguing over social media and every gathering afterwards.”

Doyoung takes a while to process what Jaehyun says, wondering what went wrong. There isn’t much to wonder about actually, nor is there a need to wonder for long because Doyoung knows the exact answer. “I don’t know? Maybe I just saw how happy you were on social media all the time. It made me resent you a bit. I was annoyed at how happy you were without me.”

“You seemed pretty happy yourself,” Jaehyun counters.

Unable to deny it, Doyoung simply shakes his head. “You never seemed that happy when we were dating.”

“I was the happiest then,” Jaehyun tells him truthfully, sadly. “Why would you think I wasn’t happy? You were my everything, Doyoung. We were still in university back then. It was annoying. People were still annoying. I like the working world more, what can I say? But you’re not there with me and I could never really be happy. I thought...I thought you were happier after graduation too.”

The break-up happened naturally. No one was to be blamed. If the blame had to be apportioned though, they would share it equally. They simply wanted different things in life, one of the biggest one being Jaehyun wanting to leave the city for a while.

“I was happier. For a while.” Hesitantly,, Doyoung adds, “I didn’t know you came back.”

“Just last week. I asked Johnny to help me settle in,” Jaehyun fills in.

Doyoung scoffs at the mention of their mutual friend. “One of the four friends who ditched me today. Nice.”

“Right, about that,” Jaehyun begins sheepishly, scratching the side of his head and looking away so that he doesn’t have to face Doyoung.

Eyes narrowed, Doyoung questions, “What about it?”

“So this was Johnny’s plan.” Jaehyun pauses to gauge Doyoung’s reaction but at the latter’s blank stare, he decides to be more elaborate. “The whole ditching you was part of Johnny’s plan.”

Doyoung’s eyes widen the moment realisation hits him and then he scowls. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Hear me out,” Jaehyun laughs nervously, genuinely fearing for Johnny’s life. “So it was Johnny’s plan.”

“You said that already, and I’m going to kill him. Next.”

“I was the one who reached out to Johnny.” Jaehyun hopes this explanation is going to be enough to save his friend’s life. “I called him again to ask about how you were doing.”

There’s only one word that Doyoung latches onto. “Again?”

A half smile appears on Jaehyun’s face as he nods. “I ask about you a lot.”

“Oh,” Doyoung says dumbly.

“Anyway, I asked him about you and he mentioned about this haunted house outing with the five of you and told me that he had a plan to help us…” Jaehyun trails off.

This time, Doyoung understands the implications of Jaehyun’s words. “Get back together?” he completes the sentence, frowning when he sees Jaehyun shaking his head in response.

Jaehyun sounds almost bitter with the next few sentences he says. “He just wanted us to talk again. Said it was suffocating to be trapped between two of his closest friends. So he told me that he would get an extra ticket and asked me to turn up at ten thirty and he would let the others know. Nobody except you were there when I arrived and I figured that Johnny got the others to bail on you so that we could be alone together.” Eyebrows pulling together in concentration, Jaehyun wonders aloud, “I don’t know how he managed to make Mark fall sick though.”

“Mark isn’t sick,” Doyoung realises suddenly, voicing his thoughts. “Donghyuck’s just a liar.” Donghyuck definitely isn’t going to be receiving his Christmas present. “I really hate Johnny sometimes.”

“Is this one of those times?”

Doyoung looks into Jaehyun’s hopeful eyes and he knows that there’s no way he can bring himself to say ‘yes’. “No,” he says truthfully instead. He’s annoyed at Johnny, yes, but he can’t say for sure that nothing good ever comes out of Johnny’s schemes. And tonight might just be the night to prove him wrong. “Probably not. I don’t think so.”

“So can we do this again?” Jaehyun earnest when he asks but he also looks prepared for a rejection.

Doyoung hesitates even though the answer is already clear to him. “Maybe we can do it again.”

The corners of Jaehyun’s lips start growing upwards. “Just say ‘yes’, Doyoung.”

“Okay!” Doyoung gives in out of exasperation. “Fine! Yes!”

“Great,” Jaehyun says happily, those dimples that Doyoung _adores_ fully forming again. “Then I’ll see you on Christmas.” He leans in slowly but Doyoung backs away quickly.

“I’m not going to a haunted house on Christmas,” Doyoung deadpans.

“Of course not,” Jaehyun replies, amused. “I’m going to take you out for dinner and serenade you.”

Doyoung laughs. “You can tr - ”

The rest of his words gets cut off as Jaehyun fits their lips together. Just like last time.

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/fullsunlet) (ineedsomejaedofriends)
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! And Merry Christmas again <3


End file.
